Black bag job
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A Black Bag Job or Black Bag Operation is a covert entry action undertaken by a police force or intelligence agency. A black bag job should not become known to its target, so violence or confrontation are to be avoided.
Reasons for a black bag job include planting surveillance equipment and finding and copying documents, computer data or cryptographic keys.
The term comes from the black bags formerly used by intelligence services to carry the equipment required for such operations.
The use of "black bag jobs" by the FBI was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court on 19 June 1972 in the Plamondon case, 407 U.S. 297.
See also
Reference
Sir Peter Wright. Spy Catcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. Penguin USA, 1987. ISBN 0670820555.